CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOREST SOILS FROM PRAHOVA COUNTY

Chemical, physical and biological characteristics of forest soils are very important for foresters especially for assessing the capacity of forest sites for timber production. More and more foresters started to take into consideration the relation between the forest soils, the tree layer composition and the silvicultural measures in order to find the best combination from a sustainable development point of view. The aim of this study was to realize a description of the forest soils from Prahova County. The data for the timeframe 1988-2012 from the forest management plans of the eight state-owned forest districts within Prahova Forestry Directorate were taken into account. The most common forest soils across Prahova County were the eutric cambisol, the dystric cambisol and the luvisol. By taking into account the values of the pH and soil base saturation, two of the most relevant chemical characteristics of forest soils, we can say that the forest sites with eutric cambisols and luvisols provide the optimum conditions for the development of beech and Norway spruce. In order to conserve or to increase the chemical characteristics of the forest soils to an optimum level, future silvicultural measures should be focused on promoting the mixed stands, even if by doing this, the forests managers will have to face several challenges.